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Okinawan Civil War
The Okinawa Civil War, also known as the War for Okinawa, was an armed conflict and civil war fought on the island of Okinawa for control of the Ryukyu Islands. The conflict was fought between two factions; the Okinawa Provisional Government, supported by remnants of the Japan Self-Defense Forces and the United States Marine Corps, and the New Ryukyu Kingdom, a nationalistic monarchist faction. The war was fought from late 2082 until late 2083 and ended with a provisional government victory and the later creation of the Ryukyu Republic. Background On October 24th, 2077, Chinese bombers and missiles attacked Japanese cities, as well as US and JSDF bases across Japan, including two missiles that struck the island of Okinawa in the Ryukyu Islands, one at the capital of Naha and one at US Air Force Base at Kadena. The blast itself killed over 400,000, and radiation poisoning, disease, violence, and starvation killed an additional 40,0000, leaving almost two thirds of the population of the island dead. Okinawa was plunged into chaos, with numerous gangs of survivors, armed with weapons from the surviving military installations fighting over supplies. In addition to survival, the tensions between ethnic Ryukyuans and mainland Japanese, American, and Chinese that had all invaded their island at one point in history erupted yet again, with armed gangs of Ryukyuans attacking anyone they suspected of being a foreigner, blaming them for the destruction of their homes and the deaths of many of their families and loved ones in the nuclear attacks. While some ex- US and JSDF forces forces managed to drive off the attacking mobs, many groups of survivors were massacred, including thousands of mainland Japanese, and smaller numbers of Americans, as well as nearly all of the few hundred Chinese POWs still held on the island. By 2080, survivors began joining into larger communities for defense, which, by 2082, had all allied themselves into two distinct groups. The Okinawa Provisional Government was an emergency government led by a council led by pre-war mayor of Okinawa City, Shuji Sanaga, Japanese Maritime Self Defense Forces Captain Misaki Umezu, and Lt. Colonel Thomas Spaulding, the highest ranking officers in the JSDF and US Marine Corps respectively. The OPG dedicated themselves to restoring order, and their population consisted of a combination of Okinawans, mainland Japanese, Americans, and even a handful of surviving Chinese POWs. The second main unit was the nationalistic New Ryukyu Kingdom, based in ruins of Shuri Castle in Naha and ruled by a man who had taken up the name of "Sho Hashi" after the first king of the historical Ryukyu Kingdom. The New Ryukyu Kingdom were determined to expel or exterminate all non-Ryukyuans on the island, and were responsible of a number of atrocities. Attack on Okinawa City On November 6th, 2082, Sho Hashi ordered a force of 10,000 men and 80 armored vehicles, as well as 60 artillery guns, to attack Okinawa City. The New Ryukyu Kingdom artillery had massed near Urasoe over the previous few days and fired on Okinawa City in the early morning. The artillery attack caught the OPG by surprise, but the guns were manned mostly by poorly trained militia, so their fire was inaccurate, though it still caused a few hundred casualties, mostly civilians. NRK forces advanced towards Okinawa City on Road 329, a coastal road that was the only route between Naha and Okinawa City not destroyed in the nuclear attack. As the NRK forces neared Nakagusuku, however, they found themselves under fire from OPG artillery and naval gunfire from the JSDF remnant frigate Harekaze, directed from an OPG guard post on a hill that was the former site of the 15th century Nakagusuku castle. The artillery held the line until 40 OPG tanks and 1500 infantry arrived to reinforce the defenses. The OPG force was far outnumbered by the NRK, but consisted of better-trained ex-JSDF or US military personnel, who quickly drove back the NRK. NRK forces retreated after sustaining about 1400 casualties, and also losing about half of the pre-war armored vehicles they had managed to gain control of. The OPG lost only 80 troops KIA and another 110 wounded, with 250 civilians killed mostly by inaccurate NRK mortar and artillery fire. The attack was routed by 0900 hours. After the attack, Captain Umezu and Lt. Col. Spaulding, the acting commanders of the JSDF and US forces on Okinawa ordered their few remaining VTOLs and helicopters to recon the locations NRK forces and launch rocket, missile, and bombing attacks on NRK artillery batteries and other troop concentrations. The aircraft also spotted targets for the 100 or so artillery guns under OPG control. These retaliatory attacks caused over 400 NRK casualties and destroyed at least 30 artillery pieces and another 22 vehicles. Realizing that he has severely underestimated the remnants of the pre-war military forces on the island, Sho Hashi ordered the New Ryukyu Kingdom Army to destroy the pre-war frigate Harekaze, one of the OPG's most powerful assets. On November 22nd, the NRK launched a suicide boat attack on the Harekaze, with eight small motorboats loaded with explosives and mini-nukes, crewed by volunteers. The attack was launched at roughly 0200 hours in the dead of night, however, the Harekaze, which had been at sea when the bombs fell, had its radar, night vision, and other sensor systems intact, and engaged the unknown boats, destroying four of them with its 76mm rapid fire cannon at ranged of greater than one kilometer. Four boats managed to get within 1000 meters of the Harekaze, but were fired on by the close-in weapons systems, two 20mm and one heavy Gatling laser mounted in automated turrets on the ship. None of the suicide boats made it within 400 meters before being sunk. Various guerilla attacks on OPG gun batteries were also repulsed without doing significant damage. OPG Counterattack After two weeks of artillery bombardments and air attacks on New Ryukyu Kingdom positions by the few surviving helicopters and VTOLs in control of the remnants of the US military and JSDF under the OPG, the forces under the control of the Okinawa Provisional Government launched a land assault down the southern coastal road and the Okinawa Expressway in the center of the island on December 4th, 2082. The force, spearhead by 40 tanks and 60 other armored vehicles, supported by 4600 infantry advanced along the road, sweeping aside the less well-trained and equipped NRK forces on the road. By the end of the day, the Okinawan Provisional Government control the largely intact pre-war oil refinery on the coast near the town of Nishihara and took the fuel reserves intact. As they entered Nishihara proper, however, the OIP assault was slowed in heavy urban combat. After days of fighting that destroyed much of the city, which received only moderate blast damage from the bombs a few years earlier as it was not directly hit, Nishihara was taken on December 9th. About a kilometer to the north, in Urasoe, USMC and JSDF remnant troops fought pushed through the eastern part of the city by December 7th, 2082, but came up against stubborn resistance from New Ryukyu Kingdom troops on the Maeda Escarpment, also known as Hacksaw Ridge. This cave-riddled limestone ridge had been the site of fierce fighting between US and Imperial Japanese Army troops over a century earlier during the Battle of Okinawa in the Second World War. The NRK defenders would use these same caves and ridges to put up a fierce defense against the JSDF and USMC remnant troops. While they were less well-equipped, having lost most of their armored vehicles and artillery in the failed offensive on November 22nd and the subsequent JSDF and USMC counterattacks, the NRK forces still had a many machine guns and handheld rocket launchers, and the rugged terrain of the ridge, along with the urban terrain immediately below it made use of vehicles impossible. Much like the Imperial Japanese Army a century before them, artillery fire and air strikes could not dislodge them from their caves and defensive positions. After a two weeks of heavy fighting, often at close quarters using weapons such as grenades, flamethrowers, and combat shotguns, the Maeda Escarpment was finally cleared of NRK forces. Among the most valuable assets from the OPG forces at the Maeda Escarpment were ex-US T-45 and T-51 power armor units and ex-JSDF Type 31 Armored Combat Suits, which allowed the OPG-controlled forces to support infantry assaults on the ridge with heavy firepower. Nonetheless, the fighting on the ridge claimed the lives of over 1000 ex-JSDF and US troops and at least twice as many NRK troops before it was captured on December 22nd, 2082. Throughout the Battle for Urasoe, the JSDF and USMC remnants under the Okinawa Provisional Government launched attacks on NRK positions with their few remaining pre-war warships and VTOL aircraft, assets the New Ryukyu Kingdom lacked. The VTOL aircraft mostly flew either at high altitude or spent most of their time at low levels in friendly territory, as the NRK had numerous heavy machine gun and autocannon positions, which shot down an ex-JSDF AH-56 on December 12th and an ex-USMC CV-80 on December 17th. As such, most VTOL attacks used rockets and what TOL (Tube-Launched, Optically Targeted, Laser-Guided) anti-tank guided missiles remained, allowing them to engage NRK positions from relative safety. While they managed to destroy a number of key NRK positions, including attacks the NRK capital at Shuri Castle, the few aircraft did little damage in comparison to the artillery and naval attacks. While the pre-war frigate and missile boat, as well as about eight light pre-war patrol craft and about 15 more improvised vessels were not sufficient to completely blockade the southern part of the island, controlled by the New Ryukyu Kingdom, the frigate Harekaze used its 120mm gun to shell the port of Itoman, the only port in the NRK-controlled part of the island, sinking over 30 boats, used both for fishing and as improvised patrol and attack craft by the NRK. This, along with the shelling and occasional air attacks on known supply caches in the NRK-controlled territory gradually weakened NRK resistance, aiding in the breakthrough of the Maeda escarpment. In spite of the fall of the defenses at the Maeda escarpment, Urasoe would not be cleared of NRK resistance until January 14th, 2083. On December 28th, 2082, the nuclear-damaged of ruins of ex USMC Camp Kinser, at the northeast edge of Naha, where the NRK found a number of their weapons, would be captured by former US Marine forces, however, further advance of OPG forces was curtailed as it would mean advancing in the still irradiated ruins of central Naha. Fall of Shuri Castle After clearing Urasoe and the Maeda Escarpment on January 14th, 2083, the JSDF Remnant and ex-US forces under the command of the Okinawa Provisional Government swept south and west along a relatively open coast area south of the Urasoe and attacked Yonabaru, supported by gunfire from the Harekaze and what pre-war VTOL aircraft and helicopters the OPG still had in their inventory. After four days of heavy fighting, on January 18th, the OPG forces pushed through the narrow northward extension of Yonabaru, located between the coast and the Okinawa Expressway. Three days later, on January 21st, the last pockets of resistance in Yonabaru were cleared. Fighting in western Urasoe and eastern Shuri, which was far more urbanized would last for much longer, with eastern Urasoe not being cleared until February 1st, 2083. At this point, the NRK base at Shuri Castle was surrounded by OPG forces to the south and east, and the nuclear-devastated ruins of Naha to the north. On February 4th, the OPG forces launched a two-pronged attack on the castle after having subjected it to heavy artillery bombardment which destroyed many of the structures, which had already suffered moderate damage in the nuclear attacks of 2077. At 0700 hours, the assault began, with ex-USMC and JSDF infantry attacking in a two-pronged attack from the south and east, targeting a pair of breaches in the walls of the castle, supported by armor where possible, but due to the dense urban terrain and the need to preserve the valuable surviving tanks, OPG armor was mostly reduced to providing gunfire support from a distance. After an hour of heavy fighting, the OPG forces cleared the urban areas around the castle, including the site of the pre-war Okinawa University for the Arts, and the Shuri Sakiyama park. At about 0800 hours, they began directly engaging OPG snipers and machine gun nests on the walls of Shuri castle. These were eventually suppressed by artillery and tank gun fire, but they nonetheless held up the assault for 20 minutes. After securing the breaches in the wall, heavy fighting within the castle continued for two hours, with both sides suffering heavy casualties in the close-quarters fighting. About 300 ex-US and JSDF troops under control of the OPG were killed in the battle, with an additional 200 wounded, while the New Ryukyu Kingdom lost between 600 and as many 1000 troops killed. At 1036 hours, the ruins of the castle were declared clear. After clearing Shuri Castle, heavy urban combat continued as NRK troops made two failed counterattacks on the castle, before OPG troops attacked, taking the campus of the University of the Ryukyus by the end of February 4th and continuing south and east in the coming days, pushing the remains of the NRK back to the zone of total destruction left by the nuclear attack on Naha. Operations in Southern Okinawa Aftermath Category:Wars Category:Events